Human Error
by Pseudonym Author
Summary: A traveler finds his past, guided by people he will never understand. Now, surrounded and cornered in a city without man, he is truly lost.
1. Chapter 1

[Honestly? I didn't think I'd go back to this kind of stuff, I mean FanFic. I started getting into actual, legitimate story writing and lost a lot of my enjoyment in writing these. I [was proven wrong when the urge to restart my entire story board with better technique and sharper plots came to me. I guess that anyone can be caught off guard by their [own urges. I do truly hope you enjoy my newer stories. Be sure to leave a review to tell me how I'm doing! -The Author

* * *

Out of the darkness came a voice, "You wish to try that all-too-fast tactic again, yes?"

"What else? I have nothing else to try."

"You have a lot more to try; take it slow this time."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Fine."

* * *

A light in the darkness opens up to swallow them whole as he wakes up in the observation deck of a train, empty of all the passengers. Glad that he struck gold on the landing, Derek looked at what he was wearing. He had chosen something light weight, but not casual. He was clad in a black short-sleeved tee-shirt and a pair of grey cargo pants. Of course next to him lay his only disguise, a black face mask with a white spot in the middle... Yang. Now was a time that he wished he could become invisible and fly away, but alas. Derek coughed into his hand and saw that stubble had grown on his lip, "How ironic that I have awoken in the observation deck of a train, yet not observed."

Before him lay a mighty city's skyline with buildings twisting as they reached into the heavens or towers that tapered to a point, he saw no end to its strange beauty. Something's voice took him out of his gaze, "I heard coughing, is everything alright up there?"

Coughing is normal, though. Derek did his best to reply calmly, "Yeah, nothing's wrong up here."

"A'right, just making sure."

"Certainly odd," he whispered to himself as the train hurtled forward. How long this ride would be had him at a loss; the track seemed to just twist to and fro as if the main architect had gotten drunk designing it. He donned his mask as he noticed his not-so chiseled features reflected in the glass giving them chills about what would happen if anyone saw them. It was tempting for him just then to undo his pockets and see what he was given, but that would have to wait until they got off at the next stop. Derek did know about one thing he was given to help him with something that bothered most-if not all-travelers.

Derek popped one of his pocket buttons and felt for a bottle around a few... wires? Definitely wires. The rattle of crushed up dust pills told him he had it. Slipping out a bottle of sleep pills made him produce saliva on instinct. Feeling he had enough, Derek swallowed a pill and returned the bottle to it's place as he slipped into the embrace of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Clack!_** Derek was thrown into consciousness when his mask hit the train's floor and activated the visor's screen. The train had stopped at it's station and people were likely already departing. Using what he thought to be ninja-like skills, Derek opened a window and leapt to the station's roof. Running and pulling himself to other ledges took up a lot of his focus until it was interrupted.

"Hi! I'm Gazelle," a voice he almost recognized toned, "and welcome to Zootopia."

Well, he knew where he was now. Odd name, or so he thought until he saw what lay below him. Animals. Anthropomorphic animals that lived daily life much like his old life, before his... streak. It was a bustling area with all the animal kingdom present and accounted for. He didn't even consider the fact that there were no gorillas or chimps or orangutans. Of course, this station wasn't nearly as busy as some he'd seen.

Receding into a shadow from another building, Derek pulled out all the things in his pockets. He counted off, "Motherboard, wiring kit, weird-ass phone, sleeping pills, and a collapsible backpack. All good. Oh! Back pocket has a... pair of binoculars." Finding that he had more than enough, he set out to find a good spot to observe the world. Sadly, he didn't get very far (only out of the train station) because the sun now shown to cast his shadow on a busy street. Derek had to lie down on the building so his shadow wouldn't be noticed. He popped another of the sleeping pills and drifted away.

* * *

Awake hours later, Derek opened his eyes to see that the moon had just set. In the black void of night he activated the night vision, surprised that no streetlights were on. Clearly the nocturnal animals didn't like them. Derek rubbed sweat off his hands and dropped off the roof. He fell for several seconds before grabbing a light post, but he yelled out a small bit as he pulled a muscle in his forearm. _Shit_ , he thought. His worst fears came to life as he noticed what looked like a cat glance up at him and lift something. Thinking quickly, Derek threw himself from the street lamp to an alley wall and slid down to the ground below.

"Eh-? What?!"

Derek spun around to see that he startled a small animal with gigantic ears, so he ran away as fast as he could. He danced around dumpsters and leapt garbage bags as he ran along some kind of giant wall. Looking up at it told him instantly he was being caught on tape, if only there were a spot below them... There! A door in the wall. Derek rammed into it full force, denting the metal surface as he noted that it was flimsy. He pulled on the doorknob and stepped into the gap. Now being assaulted by blistering heat Derek felt a bit more at home.

Trying to figure out if he could keep the cameras from recording him any more, he remembered that he had wires. No, he had a limited amount that he needed to save. Before Derek could continue thinking up plans a small alarm went off above both ways through the doorway. As soon as they started flashing he bolted back into the city without closing the door. He didn't stop until another door in the wall appeared before him. He slapped the doorknob down and stepped into a doorway that assaulted him with heat again. This heat however, was humid to another degree. Taking a look to his right showed him that an entire rainforest had been built in the city.

The sun had finally begun to rise and cast the trees in a silhouette, so Derek turned off the night vision. Now that stuff was no longer _just_ green, he could see that the residents walked about with colorful umbrellas. Derek chuckled, "This is a little too... What's that smell? Damn!" Taking a step into the area, Derek closed the door and found the source of the smell to his left. Lying on the cement was some kind of wildcat-possibly a female lion-with a deep stab wound in its neck. Blood pooled around their head in a halo, but Derek remained stoic and unaffected by the scene. He regretted what he had to do. Derek knelt beside the body and searched the pockets, finding a wallet and a switchblade.

"Carrying that with you almost makes it right to kill you this way." He looked in the wallet and winced at what he saw. No money or credit card, but the ID had been left there. Derek shook his head, "Sorry it went down like this, Natalie." Getting up and leaving through the door couldn't have been easier, but he tossed the wallet back through. He didn't need to leave her as a Jane Doe.

Walking slowly to a fire escape further into the city and climbing up allowed his adrenaline to leave him and pain to pop back in. Derek sat down and looked at his left arm, but it seemed fine. He climbed up the stairs for another few stories to a landing without flowers and a beautiful view of the city. He lied himself down below the window to wait until he could move in brighter light. Cue plan changer.

The window opened and Derek froze. He heard someone inhale deeply as if city air was fresh. He even saw part of a grey face peek out of the window. Then she spoke, "Hey, I never knew there was a fire escape here." Derek rolled against the wall, silently crying for her to leave. A rabbit's foot began slipping out of the window. Derek rolled off the landing between the rails and landed with an "oof" on the one below, rattling it.

Whoever it was above him now gasped, "Are you okay?"

Glad she couldn't see him, Derek replied quietly, "Yes I'm fine, just tripped."

"But... Aren't you the rhino from..?"

"Really?" Derek cursed to himself and tossed himself off the landing onto the next one, landing quietly this time.

"Hello? Oh no..." There was a dialing tone that Derek could hear, "I think someone just jumped off my building, send someone quickly."

A minute later sirens were wailing down the streets, growing louder and louder. Derek took that as his cue to hide. Where could he go? The roof. Derek slid across the wall to the second fire escape's landing and began to climb the ladders. They only went up so far, though. He was now a good ten stories below the roof, but higher than the bunny's apartment. The sirens suddenly paired up with lights and cars. The cars were two in total, an ambulance and a patrol vehicle. The bunny from before (or so he suspected) came out of a back door to meet them. A bit of indistinct yelling came from below, but they all suddenly looked up. Derek took a step back to avoid their gazes and backed into the window behind him.

"What are you?" the voice spoke from Derek's right, the other window. A groggy looking wolf stepped out of the window.

Derek only stared at him through his mask, staying completely still. When the wolf lifted his phone Derek sprung into action and kicked the phone out of the canine's paws and over the railing.

"Hey! That cost me money!" The wolf charged Derek with fists and growled at him. Derek waited a moment before dropping to his haunches. The wolf tripped on him and tumbled over the railing with a blood curdling scream.

"Dammit! I was not trying to do that." Derek slipped into the window and covered his ears, "That was not me, that was not me, that was not me..." The room he stood in was small and neat, everything was put in an order logical to need. He found a bit of cash in a drawer and electrical components that he ripped out of the microwave. Derek flipped out his backpack and filled it with a few shirts. He heard from the window someone yelling profanities between something along the lines of an order.

Minutes later a knock rattles the door, "ZPD! Open up!."

"My adventure so far has gone well, hasn't it," Derek whispers to himself as he shoves himself under the bed.

"We said open up!" Quieter now, "Break it down." The door shattered as some kind of grey fist blasts through it, big enough to be a rhino's. Sure enough, a rhinoceros steps through the threshold followed by a white tiger.

"It's empty," rumbled the rhino.

"You have a terrible sense of smell," said the white tiger, "something in here is alive, but it smells like neither predator or prey."

"No such thing," the rhino replied.

Derek found a bag of chips under the bed and slipped it silently into his bag.

"There, you hear it?" the white tiger began to kneel.

"I certainly don't!" Derek grabbed his bag and kicked off the wall. He slid under the rhino and rolled out the door to his feet.

"Hey! You're under arrest for suspected murder!" Derek was kind of glad that it was the white tigress who yelled.

"I think the hell not," Derek snorted. They couldn't reply when he sprinted right between them and launched himself off the fire escape.


	3. Chapter 3

_This will hurt_ , Derek thought as he plunged to the ground. Doing his best to slow down, he flattened his body out and twisted to be parallel with the ground. His mask gave a beep that he was close enough to the ground to start forming a landing. Derek did just that and almost felt the ground grow close. _**Click. Click. Click. Bing!**_ His mask counted altitude until he hit the ground, rolling and rolling.

"Ooh... Ah! That was..." Derek flipped onto his front, "Intense as all hell." He pushed himself slowly to his feet and brushed himself off while checking for bruising.

"Paws up!" Someone's voice demanded from behind him.

Keeping his hands in front of him, Derek cursed. Then he laughed like he absolutely lost his mind, "They didn't know it when they turned me loose... I shot the sheriff and slipped the noose... The law ain't never been a friend o' mine, I would kill again to keep from doing time... You should never ever trust my kind... I'm a wanted man."

"We said: paws up!"

"Don't have any."

"Don't kid with us. I'll say it one more time, paws. Up."

Derek drew his knife from the backpack's strap and flicked the blade to show. Turning his head to show the mask, he laughed again, "Dart guns? I'll give you a hint right now: they don't work on me." **_Poff!_** Derek took one straight to the neck. He made a show of pulling it out and dropping it on the cement with his free hand, "Told you." The rest of his body turned to face the same way as his head just as his left hand flicked the blade at the wall.

"Aah!" The bunny from before took the knife in one of her big ears.

"Get that... thing! Whatever it is I want it put out." A fox next to the bunny pointed at Derek angrily.

Derek ran like the devil through the alleys, aware that he would run out of alleys soon. The dart had already put colors he couldn't name into his vision, so finding a door through the wall would be hard. Or not. They showed as neon. He was about to start ramming one down, but he slipped up and fell on his right side. This allowed a cheetah to trip on his feet and send themselves sprawling on pavement.

Derek righted his posture and ran at the door shoulder first. He made contact and found himself back near the decaying body of the lioness, still undiscovered. He ran to a tree and started shimmying up the rough bark. The rain soaked his clothes and (hopefully) hid his scent. He used a hand to hold his binocs to his face mask. He saw the tigress officer stand and pull out her walkie-talkie. Then, they just left.

He sighed, "Another day, another enemy."

"Time to fix that?" The voice almost startled Derek off the tree.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Derek heaved, "You've almost killed me that way a lot. What do you want?"

"To remind you that you're doing alright."

Derek stared at her white mask with a black spot in the middle, "I'm doing good?"

"You're usually gone by this time, you've lasted pretty long here." Her super blonde hair almost blended into the white in her mask.

"What are you going to do to me?" Derek was skeptical of her since the get go.

She chuckled, "You'll see."

"No, you'll tell me."

Too late, she had disappeared.

"Great, now I'm freakin' paranoid," Derek pulled off his pack and pulled out the chips, but since he grabbed them they had become dust. He tipped his mask to the top of his head and shoveled the dust into his mouth. When he finished, Derek cupped his hands to catch rain water and drank it. "Don't know how they keep each of these biomes separate, but it works. Maybe those are the walls."

It was now somewhere around noon, so daylight was still present. Of course, that meant the "ZPD" was still around. Derek suspected that it didn't matter what time of day it was, they'd be on his back the entire time. Sitting in this tree helped him plan what he was going to do about the problems he brought up for himself; he was now responsible for manslaughter, body looting, running from the authorities... Derek sure made a mess of this, but he planned on righting it. He flicked his mask back down.

Derek was about do climb down the tree when the branch he sat upon snapped unexpectedly and he plummeted quickly to cold pavement. He landed on his back and his last thought before passing out was, _So that's what she said she'd do_.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yeah, we've got it here," female voice, bright and optimistic, "Send a van to pick us up."

"With heavy artillery," male, possibly very stud-ish.

The answer came through, but Derek couldn't tell what it said. He tried to sit up, but found that his hands were put in cuffs behind him and his legs were tied in clothe. He opened his eyes and saw that his stuff was haphazardly strewn across the cement, "Why have you got to do this to me?"

"Ah, he speaks once more," the fox from... (What? Yesterday?) spoke in a very studly way.

"I was attacked, viciously, by wolves," Derek him a deadpan stare through his mask.

"Actually, it looks more like you fell out of your little hiding spot in this tree," the rabbit countered.

"Correction, it was foxes."

"Hey!" The fox took the offense Derek expected.

"I'll have you know that my partner is very reliable," the rabbit tried to defend her fox friend. He noticed she had a bandage wrapped around one of her ears.

"Who said I called out his reliability? Or your ignorance?" Derek smiled to himself, this was a rise from animals. Not something he did everyday.

"Ooh!" She clenched her little fists.

They didn't even try to defend their pride anymore, oh well. Derek tried to make them feel better, "I'm sure you Mister... Wilde, are very trustworthy, and you Miss... Hopps, are very studious." He whispered very quietly to himself, "Certainly very cute." What could he say? He had a pet bunny named Hopper.

Her ear twisted towards me, "I'm sorry, but I think I just heard you call me cute. It's really only okay for other bu-"

"Don't even try it, I'm something beyond your realm of understanding," Derek shook his head at her, "Besides, I'm sure a compliment doesn't hurt?"

Judy just stared at him, then she kicked his waist. Too bad the pelvis was there, she stubbed her toe and her face showed it. He had to give her props for keeping composer, though.

Of course, being the asshole that he is, Derek made a simple request, "Could you at least put my stuff back in my bag?"

They didn't acknowledge him anymore, but he knew they wouldn't put his stuff back because it was evidence of something or another. Derek reached out with his hands and managed to grab his phone and shove it in his waistband. Trying to do anything else, Derek noticed that the rope was already stretched thin and could snap. Hoping he could, he pressed his knees together and the rope practically vanished with a satisfying snap. The officers, like the rope, snapped to attention and saw that Derek was now running into the Rainforest District.

"Hey! Stop in the name of the law!" Judy was speaking, of course.

"Catch me first." Derek leapt up into the air and swung his arms under his legs and up to his front. His hands were still in chains, but they would be of more use in front of him. Something he knew about handcuffs, they were not designed to be bulletproof. The probability of them carrying live ammunition was high, Derek knew from experience. He clearly had the wrong experience. He took a tight right turn to a set of stairs and an elevator as darts glanced off the wall by him.

The doors to the elevator opened and a wombat stepped out then immediately rolled out of the way of Derek clambering in. The doors shut and they started moving up. Taking the time to study the handcuffs, Derek looped the chain around the railing and broke the chain with a snap. Suddenly, the elevator stopped it's upward climb without the doors opening. Derek shrugged and gutted the elevator controls, taking all the components with him as he popped the top hatch and climbed the auxiliary ladder. He reached the top door and pried it part way open before he saw Judy's grey face. Derek hopped off the tiny landing and climbed farther up the ladder to the top of the shaft.

"You're under arrest," the fox stated simply from the open door, "We caught you."

"Like in Mouse Trap?"

"Like what?" he gave me a dumbfounded stare.

"Mouse Trap, everyone's a mouse and we have to try to catch someone else in a trap without getting caught ourselves."

"What kind of game is that?"

"A board game," Derek shrugs at him as he begins to slide down the ladder, "Bye." Without stopping, he passes right by the elevator and stops at the bottom floor. He pries open the door to see the muzzle of an AK-47. "Damn, that's a heavily armed wolf... Pack."

An entire squad of wolves stood in Derek's way of freedom. Oddly, they all wore black swat uniforms and didn't open fire on sight. Instead, they split to let a single rabbit with similar colors to Judy step up to Derek.

The rabbit had the same gray fur, but darker gray stripes on the back of his head and ears. He opened his mouth to speak, "I'm-"

"Wait, wait. I got it: James Bond," Derek stopped his introduction so he could guess.

The bunny looked at him blankly, "No, I'm Savage, Jack Savage. I've been sent to figure out what you are and stop you if you pose a threat to national security."

Derek looked up towards the east, "That's your helicopter isn't it?"

The question caught Jack off guard, "What's that have to do with this?"

"It's spiraling to the ground."

"WHAT!?" He turned to look like everyone else.

"Made you look." Derek pushed him over and ran to the wall door, breaking it down again. He reentered the main city at a fast clip, not willing to put up with anymore bullshit. Derek realigned himself with the area and headed off with no trouble. Of course now he was just traveling at a dead sprint through a crowd of animals with more than twice his body mass. Derek rolled under most of the bigger animals, but some that were lower down gave him a bit of trouble as he either leapt over them or swung around them. Something glanced off the pavement in front of him and struck his shin.

"Aah!" Derek tumbled onto the ground with a trail of blood on his pants. Something got him and he had to lose whomever might be pursuing him. Animals around him fanned out with phones trained on him. They couldn't see his face, thankfully.

Something glittered from a building and Derek rolled as far as he could to his left as the bang sounded off. The pavement exploded and small pebbles showered him and the crowd. People scattered a little, some didn't move. Jack Savage reappeared with Nick and Judy on either side of him.

"Don't move!" Judy shouted.

Derek rolled as far as he could to his right just before the cement exploded with another bullet impact, "Then call off the sniper!"

Jack spoke into an earpiece and nodded.

"Thank you, now what did you little fur balls want?"

"I think that's a question better answered by you," retorted Nick.

"Too bad I don't fit the description," Derek laughed.

"What do you want?" Jack Savage pulled a shiny new handgun from it's hidden holster.

"To be alive, primarily. Of course, I would also like to have my dismantled microwave back." Derek was still on the ground. Somehow he was still keeping his wits about him through the burning pain of a bullet wound.

"Well, you can be kept alive as long as you are willing to surrender for questioning," Judy answered before Jack could get a word in.

Derek turned onto his stomach and pushed himself up with his uninjured leg. He turned to face them and showed them his mask. Heaving as much breath as he could manage, Derek raised a fist and yelled at the top of his lungs. He launched himself off with his left leg and tossed a right hook into Nick's snout. _**Crack!**_ A gun's hammer impales the bullet's combustion chamber. Shattered concrete flays the ends of Derek's clothes and people finally have the wit to scatter.

With Nick panting on his side, Derek grabs his gun and a bobcat that didn't run fast enough.


	5. Chapter 5

Derek took a deep breath and let it go, aware that it probably smelled terrible. He dragged his charge to the side of the building that he knew the sniper was perched upon and waited for people to realize what was going on. Derek had snatched Nick's sidearm and a bobcat from the crowd. The cat must have had its nails trimmed lately because Derek wasn't getting any new scars on his arm.

The cat made a plea for mercy, "Please don't... don't hurt me..!"

Derek whispered so quietly the cat could hardly hear it, "It doesn't matter, you're getting off free. Just play dead." Pulling a move he had for many years, Derek dropped the gun magazine into his shoe without so much as a whoosh. He held the muzzle of the gun to the bobcat's ear, "Keep acting scared, kid."

With the instruction, the cat wailed slightly.

"What do you want? We can work out a deal," Jack spoke evenly, even with a gun trained to kill.

"Well, honestly I don't know." Derek shrugged the cat closer to his body. He knew that all law enforcers knew that a hostage taker that didn't know what they wanted was a dangerous one.

Jack said something he couldn't hear into his microphone, then spoke up again, "Well, let's think. Where have you been basing yourself?"

Derek shifted the gun in his hand, causing another wail from the cat.

"Right, right. Bad question." There was a pause when Jack said another thing into his microphone.

Derek tilted his head all the way to the right and winced against the shattering of brick as a bullet embedded itself in the wall. He laughed a cruel, cold laugh, "I know all the tricks, could almost say that I've been a fugitive before."

Jack-of course-said something into his microphone, but his wait was longer. No one moved, no one breathed. Nick was sitting up now, a bit of blood dribbling from his mouth. The cat in Derek's arms didn't make a sound.

"I have some demands," Derek announced in the silence.

Still, no one moved. A gun fell into the crowd from the top of a building opposite to Derek. People moved as it discharged a single bullet into who knows where.

"Hey! Lauren! What's going on up there!?" Jack was yelling into his microphone.

"I can make the rest of them disappear," Derek speaks, "You wouldn't like that, would you?"

Judy broke into a cold sweat, "What can you do to us?"

Derek sighs, "Too many things to count, but if you give me what I want... I'll leave you all alone." Inside he silently wondered how exactly how he'd be able to leave of his own accord, he's never left willingly.

Jack faced Derek with death in his eye, "What the _fuck_ do you want?!"

"I want my microwave back, a black painted motorcycle with a full tank of gas, and a map of the entire city."

"What? What's a motorcycle?" Judy asks.

Derek blinked, "What about a quad? Still black with a full tank of gas."

Jack took a deep breath, then slowly released it and put one of his digits onto the trigger for his gun.

"Hey, hey, hey. You realize I have someone who could die, right? Did you really snap? That was quick." Through his blabbering, Derek had loosened his hold on the feline's neck. The cat's appropriate response was to struggle for release.

Jack was clearly having an inner dialogue as small features of his face were twitching or shifting. Derek's adrenaline was quickly running out and the wound in his leg was beginning to chip away his will. **Choo!** A bullet whips forward and blood spills from the grey furred bobcat's forehead.

Derek screams and drops the lifeless body to the ground, horrified. Still in shock, Derek flicked his gun at Jack like a boomerang. It hit the gun out of the rabbit's paws and allowed time to take a pause. Judy stared at the form like she herself were also dead; her tears marked the pavement. Nick laughed grimly.

Derek's little trip took a turn so dark that even The Grim Reaper couldn't see coming. With little time to waste, Derek walked/limped into the alley to tend his wounds. He was confronted with his opposite again. She trilled, "You see what I gave you? Direct, constant contact with them. You need to learn to take steps to being sociable."

"Because of my little interaction, one of them is dead." Derek wasted no time wrapping up his wound with a strip of t-shirt he stripped from his partner's loose fitting shirt. It was white and allowed him to see how much the blood soaked through before it would have to be replaced.

"There was nothing I could have done," she said quietly, almost like she were a little girl.

"You could have done a hell of a lot," Derek growled, "You could have shot Jack, you could have appeared and warded them off with that little lightning trick you know, you could have just made _me_ disappear! Don't you dare tell me there was nothing you could do."

"You're tired, let me take you to your temporary home."

"I'm not living here," he said with finality.

"Too bad, so sad." She reached out to take Derek's mask.

He rolled out of the way, "No. There isn't a way you will take this away from me."

"I need to enhance it."

Derek remained unmoved and pulled up fists to defend himself, he wasn't going out like this.


	6. Chapter 6

She threw the first punch, drawing close to Derek's chest as he pushed her out of the alleyway. The citizens of the city gasped as they found that more than one existed in their city. It faintly reminded Derek and Walesa of New York finding aliens in their midst after their first trip around the multiverse.

"I need that mask." Walesa remained as quiet as she could, but she knew that animals would still know what she's saying.

"I won't let you take it from me." Derek didn't care about who heard him, he had his voice exposed anyway. He stepped out of the alleyway, brandishing a pipe.

"Don't put yourself in more danger. I can help you."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Derek recalled the times he failed to accomplish goals because of her interference. He laughed, "You never have before."

"I've helped you a lot, I'll help you again." Walesa held a small node to bare on the palm of her hand.

Derek paused, seeing it bothered him. It was weird. The sensation hit him as he noticed the waves in the air, "Oh hell no! Don't you dare get that thing near me!"

Walesa shrugged and chucked it hard and fast towards Derek's mask. Without time to react, it latched onto his mask and the reading went haywire. He tried to see through the static, but failed to see anything. He walked forward slowly, tentatively to where he knew Walesa to be last.

She reached towards him and tries to pry off his mask, but Derek slaps her hand away and instead grabs something hanging off of her back. Without losing a step, Derek fastened the gear to his legs and used the jump jets to get to the top of a low building before starting across them to a more secure area. Finally, he stumbled into the wide open space of a warehouse. It must have been abandoned in a hurry, the boxes were still gathered sky high. Now seeing the time fit to remove his mask, he did. He looked around and nestled himself into the space between one of the towers.

"Let's see what the hell you did to me," Derek murmured to himself. He looked at the chip and touched it apprehensively. When it stayed inert, he used a nail to pick at the supports and break it of his mask. It left no marks on the shiny, glass-like plastic of his mask. Of course, the material _was_ self-repairing. Anyway, it was off and he could mimic its affects. Wasting no time, he scavenged the warehouse's area and found the operations office. Inside were some things that Derek knew would be incredibly useful. He noted a few items: large, well maintained cutlery; a microwave with a plate inside; a loosely strung hammock; and finally, an old flip phone.

He breaks down the microwave control panel first, noting wires and the wave transmission plates. Then, the phone gets deconstructed. He links the fractal transmitter from the phone and links it to the chip from Walesa. Next, the microwave button panel is hooked up to the transmitter and the microwave plates are reconfigured to send a buzzing frequency and send the jamming signal in a radius the phone would not be able to handle. Then, he adjusted his mask to bend the signals sent at it around it so he could not be blinded again. With that finished, he put a solid metal casing around the jamming box so it could not be damaged as easily.

Retreating to the hammock, he finally noticed that his pills had been taken. Along with his phone and anything else he needed. Derek cursed loudly and rested his hand on his face. The only thing he could think of was taking someone hostage and demanding it back. What was he thinking? Letting himself sleep. Damned. After finally consolidating a plan, he passed out.

* * *

"Ah, he can be recovered. Those pills were a curse for years."

Derek blinked, "Who is there?!" When he spoke it startled him. His accent was uniquely Russian, harsh as could be.

"Surprised? Don't worry, we'll bring you up to speed."

The voice continued on to tell Derek that he was a member of the Russian special ops that had been captured by a crazed American scientist who believed she could travel to fictional realms. Walesa, as she called herself, found a device capable of bringing her to those realms, but she needed to have another person to act as a counterweight to her travels and studies. She knew that she would have to brainwash someone to do it, so who else but a captured Russian soldier. Walesa had no restraint and used an old tactic of continuous chemo-therapy to keep him from remembering. She crafted disguises for them both in the forms of Yin and Yang. She kept all the technology for herself and Derek would have to gather her studies for her.

"That's disgusting," Derek grumbled, now comfortable with his harsh voice.

"You have no idea, you've suppressed us with those meds for months now without you even knowing it. After these dream sequences, you'll be sent a messenger from another place you are forbidden to go. They will teach you skills you have lost."

"Thank you, comrade," Derek nods into the void of his dreamscape, "You have helped me a great deal."

"Aye, comrade," the voice replied, "Live well."

* * *

Derek jumped awake in a cold sweat, aware of what must be done. Sadly, that would have to wait until he interacted with whoever was going to train him. The answer was made apparent when a man with black hair and a denim jacket was tapping him on the shoulder and telling him to get up. Derek did get up and stretched by the table.

The man waited patiently before getting started, "You've lost your martial arts training, let's fix that."

"Really? I thought that came as muscle memory." He noticed his Russian accent carried over to the real world since his awakening.

"Well, muscle memory is instinct, not voluntary exactly."

Derek nodded in understanding and stepped out of the office to face the man in battle.

"You need to recognize the pattern in your enemy's attacks and find the best way to counteract them. Here, throw three different punches at me."

Derek shrugged and stepped up, throwing his first punch as a right hook. His opponent let it strike him in the cheek bone. Second punch was and upper cut that landed well. The man scanned Derek over and quickly something changed. As Derek went for the man's stomach, arms went up and Derek was tossed head over heels into a stack of boxes.

"You know what you're doing, teach me," Derek smiled weakly.

"You will be taught well," the man replied, pulling Derek up out of the boxes.

With a few hours of training, Derek had remastered his art and was ready for any fight to come.

* * *

After having lost the pills being a good thing, he didn't want much of what he started with. He did want his phone back, though. Derek decided to get that back using whatever force necessary. He waited until midnight, possibly the best time for him to slip away unnoticed. To prepare, he rifled through boxes and looked for what he needed. He grabbed a large trench coat, a long rope, and a chair. Good enough.

Derek stood from a gentle nap and walked out into the throng of animals of the city, blending in as best he could. They gave him looks, but otherwise stayed out of his way. When he reached the apartment building where he met the intrepid Judy Hopps, he stopped and looked around for any tell-tale signs of travel. One. A white arrow drawn in chalk towards an abandoned warehouse or hangar. He followed it and walked right back out of the city, finally coming across a bridge over a rut in the ground. A gun was set on a table next to a lawn chair set next to a small car under the bridge. Derek didn't recognize the brand so he ignored it, but after a few minutes of searching he figured out that it was probably important.

"I hate this..." Derek breathed. He kicked the handle off the passenger door and pulled open the car, poking around inside. Nothing but a few dollars, a box with questionable contents, and a shamrock pendant.

The click of a bullet sliding into its chamber startled Derek out of the car, "Looking for anything specific?"

"Nice of you to join me, comrade," Derek said, looking for a response to the new accent.

"You're not the other one, are you?" Nick asked.

Derek laughed, "I'm glad you asked, comrade, for I am the same, but better."

Nick looked at the mask, studied the coat, "We were told to shoot on sight."

"Oh, so is the great protagonist having issues? Well, comrade, I've had a self discovering journey. I know who led me here and I want to kill her."

The fox shook his head, "I'm taking you in for questioning, despite my better judgement."

Derek walked away, knowing that he would find nothing. Something etched into the side of the car caught the attention of his mask. A small white dot. He tore open the top of the car, looking down into the engine. That wasn't right, the fox would have said something.

"What? No argument... comrade..." Derek lost his teasing spirit when he saw Walesa standing motionless, facing Nick with an AK.


	7. Chapter 7

Walesa looked up at Derek and turned her head a good 45 degrees to the left. She led up one hand to show a control button, to what was uncertain. With a click of the button, she vanished in a twirl of smoke.

"I'll get you, you'll wallow at my feet, wench," Derek threatened the air where she was. A loud beep from the engine of Nick's rusty can of a car warned them of the incoming event. He rushed over to try and take apart the bomb, stop it maybe. Nick watched Derek work quietly, watching the parts that were removed or crushed in order to get to the explosive.

Nick yelled, "Hey! Don't touch that! It has stuff I need in it."

Derek nodded and tore the box apart, lots of unneeded things fell out and scattered on the ground. The only thing that caught his attention was the bundle of wires that flickered a blue light along the middle. He knew there was no way to diffuse it, so he began walking towards the abandoned hangar with it in hand.

Nick growled and followed Derek, angry that it was where he would never guess. When they reached the hangar, Derek set the bomb in the middle and murmured to himself, "That'll measure the total damage that this can cause, but staying outside the building might be good... I'll do that." He walked out and stood about 200 feet from the structure. As soon as they reached the mark, there was a small fireball from within the structure.

"Oh, that wasn't b-" Nick stopped short as his car decimated behind them, throwing the old bridge up into the air in bits and pieces. A flaming crater, about ten feet across was left in the wake of the explosion.

Derek looked on in confusion and frustration, "Dammit, I knew there was a twist here. Look, you're going to have to..." He stopped as his mask highlighted a small body among the wreckage, "That little bitch."

"What? What are you doing?" Nick walked with Derek as he made his way to the crater. He stopped when he smelled the air, "No, not her... That- You did this!"

Derek silently walked the edge of the crater like a tight rope, sliding in closest to Judy's body to pick her up and bring her back out. He looked her over, finding only second degree burns and few cuts, but she was unconscious. "Do not take her to the hospital, I can treat her... You will have to trust me, comrade."

"Hell no, _comrade_ , I'm arresting you for attempted murder."

Derek looked at him, reached in his pocket and pressed a button on his controls. Their walkies wouldn't work, so no arrest could be made effectively. He reached under Judy to hold her better, then started to move off site to treat her. That was, until a white limo pulled up with guns pointed out the windows. The doors opened sluggishly, white furred bodies crammed the inside of the vehicle, but all of them wore suits and ties.

Derek yelled in frustration, "Really!? The _Mafia_?!"

One of the biggest of the bears stepped out, speaking in the lowest monotone possible, "We'll be taking Judy Hopps now. And you, Derek."

Derek almost vomited, his stress was so bad. How did they know his name? Ignoring the crunch in his gut, he handed over the crumpled rabbit and got in the car.

* * *

Once they finally arrived, Derek practically figured out the entirety of how the polar bears worked together like they did. They operated under a leader that wasn't a polar bear, and all bears had equal status among themselves. That made sense, it also made sense why they stayed with their wives and such on account of no longer being allowed to eat meat. All predators that is. Apparently, their leader was also a shrew. He had originally misheard it as shrewd, which got him a good-natured swat in the mask. Derek realized that his accent might have something to do with their odd, almost like fellowship with him.

"Mr. Big will now be ready to see you," one of the cohorts said, their accent about as thick as Derek's.

He nodded, standing and entering the door into the office. Four other bears had lined up along the hearth with the largest behind the desk, behind a small chair upon which a small creature sat. The rodent held up its paw.

It took Derek a moment to realize this was something like that of The Godfather, kiss the ring. He stepped up and knelt in front of the desk, bowing his head in respect, "I apologize, I am unable to remove this mask and wish that you will accept a gift of honor upon you." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small golden coin from China so it had the hole in it. He held it out for the shrew.

It was taken from his hand, he could tell it was being scrutinized. Eventually, the shrew laughed, "Thank you, this will be a beautiful gift to my grandson."

"So, it is my understanding that you are Mr. Big?"

"Yes, I believe you are Derek?"

"That would be right, comrade."

"That means you are going to be a valuable ally to have," Mr. Big mused. He whispered, "You've seen the dead lioness, right? People report that you raided the corpse?"

Derek grimaced, the first day he was here was when he encountered the sadly deceased lion. He looked for anything useful, but found only a few dollars and her ID. He nodded, "Yes, I did look through her things. I was not in my right mind to respect the belongings of the dead."

Mr. Big inhaled, "Was there a note?"

Derek turned his head a little, "Say again?"

"A note, was there a note?"

Derek shook his head, "I'm sorry, I found nothing of the sort."

A small bit of cursing, then he nodded to the bear behind him, "You are charged with finding it, get it to me before the end of this week, kapeesh?"

"Or what? If I don't do it, you'd never see me again."

"Or we'll ice the rabbit."

He puzzled over the dilemma, finding that he began to sense something off about the way he said that. Not wanting to cause problems now, he huffed, "I'll find the note, I'll have it in by tomorrow."

A few minutes of now frivolous information later, Derek was on his way through the place he was told to be the Rainforest District. Like, no duh. He stumbled across one of the most rickety rope bridges of all time, growling when he stepped funny and twisted his ankle a little. No problem, just a bit of pain. He continued stumbling across the bridge and got to the end. He found the door he needed to find, then punched it in with little force. A porcupine looked up from her computer and grabbed a gun.

He stared at her until she set it down and put her hands (paws?) up. Derek chuckled brusquely, then went to ransack the apartment. He came up with three stacks of papers and a locked box, but other than that nothing else. He pointed to the porcupine, "Strip, now."

"E-excuse me? That is disgusting!"

"I don't care. Now."

The porcupine awkwardly peels of its layers of clothing to her underwear. Derek searches the clothes and comes up with the note. Then he leaves, but there is something really off about the city outside.


	8. Chapter 8

This was a trap, clearly laid out for all to see. Derek cussed under his breath in anger and frustration. He cursed the name of Walesa, damning her to hell and the rot inside it.

"You're under arrest for robbery and attempted murder! Put your hands in the air and wait for us to come get you." It was the voice of the fox, sly and devious and more aggravating than a box of nails with screws in it.

"I knew it, not a word I said means anything to you, just go with the voice, eh?" Derek couldn't take anymore bullshit. He walked forward a step, then vaulted the railing. He tumbled and tumbled and twisted through the air, his coat whipping around him and billowing loudly in the wind.

 **Whump!** "Whump? I hit the ground sooner than I expected." Derek sat up, swinging his hammock gently.

There he stood, a burly and brawny black man in a blue t-shirt and jeans. He cracked the whitest smile a man ever could see, "Morning sunshine, even though it's the middle of the night."

"Good evening, comrade, what did you bring?"

"A gift from The Author, quite prestigious and generous. It was hard for him to assemble, so don't break it." The man hefted the black backpack off his shoulders and set it on the conrete floor. Then he walked through a door and disappeared.

"A gift, eh? What could it be?" Derek carefully grasped the top handle of the pack, then yanked on it. The section popped out, then the bag unraveled to become a small black fox. An android, standing on all fours, running an instinct program.

A panel on the side of it popped open and a manual fell out. It was written in Russian.

 _Starting up._

 _Find the bottom of the chin, thumb it._

 _With the callibration complete, the android is yours._

 _Command it._

"Genius." Derek follows the instructions and completes the callibration. He thinks for a moment, "Link to mask."

His HUD lights up with a secondary screen on the bottom right, labeled "Fox Cam." It's a mirror image of himself.

"Guard building, nonlethal."

The robot stood, then trotted off to circle the warehouse. Derek tracked it through the camera, wathing it leave the outer wall and begin walking along the metal plated walls.

That was Derek's cue to relax. He set up in the hammock and sighed, taking off his mask tiredly.

Now was the ZPD's cue to crash the party and ruin a hungry Russian's nap.

Derek waited for it. Something to happen. He sat up, grabbing a crowbar off the table. He guided his robot around the building. The white fox trotted along and spotted nothing.

Suspicious, Derek slapped on his mask and started walking out. Nothing but the rustle of wind in the- There were no trees. There were no bushes. It was the sound of a rough clothe rubbing on rough clothe.

He listened quickly, made a calculation, then hucked his bar into the ground. It caught the screen fabric in the corner and pulled it off a burned and battered rabbit.

"Judy Hopps, relying on tech she knows nothing of. Pitiful, but understandable," Derek commented blithely.

Judy flinched. She tried to stand tall, her left eye swollen shut. Her voice is little more than a mumble, "Your f-friend beat me relentlessly..."

"Walesa is no friend of mine, her ways are wrong and do more harm than good. Come, I'll get you a bandage." He turned and walked into the warehouse, his pace brisk and smooth. He does not wait up for Judy, but he directs his fox-bot to support the weak hare.


	9. Chapter 9

She is of course hesitant to begin, her natural instinct to run stronger than ever. She doesn't flee, however. Judy leaned heavily on the robot beneath her arm, she didn't understand it. Her mind could not wrap around what was going on, but she didn't know if it was the concussion or the fact that she was simply out of her element.

The robotic fox brings her within the confines of the warehouse, then slides out from under her and leaves. Judy couldn't see, but she felt herself picked up by gentle arms and moved to lie down on a soft surface.

"You best appreciate this, I took my shirt off to help you, comrade." Small strips of clothe wrap the deep lacerations on her leg and her arms. They were tight, but allowed for movement.

"Why... ugh... Why would you help me?"

"Why? I- I simply don't know. Now, let us see what she did to your back." Derek gently unfastened Judy's vest and shirt, then turned her over to study her dorsal surface. He ran his fingers over the fur and felt several bruises and even a broken rib.

"Stop... That's indecent."

"Shut up, I've not any time to deal with shit like that. I'm helping you and that is that." He began wrapping her torso, taking care to ensure that the wounds will heal quickly.

"It hurts..."

"She means for them to hurt, there would be no injury if she didn't want to hurt you." He finished the wraps and sighed, moving away to find something to eat.

Judy lie on the table, weakly opening her eyes. The light was dim and she struggled to breath with her chest to the fabric covering the table. She pushed herself up, blinking in what little light there is. Surrounding her are boxes stacked high and the fugitive, trying to find something to eat. She saw his back, small pockmarks of scars covering his lower back with scratch scars every other place.

Derek held up a bag of chips and chuckled in satisfaction. He pulled up a chair and sat down, keeping his back to his charge and slid off his mask. He took the back piece off with it as well, revealing his short black hair. The hair is unkempt and oily, sticking to his head.

The rabbit took in all this information as she saw it, seeing the human use 5 fingers to shove his face full of potato slices. The ferocity with which he did so was comparable to a carnivore, yet there was something a little different. She then saw the ears and how oddly shaped they were, flat to his head and curled inward.

Derek reached his hand into the bag and found that there was no more chips, he had run out. He sighed in despair, "An impass, it seems. No going back, she's already making targets of the... Augh... I have to kill her, if only to end my own suffering by her hand."

Derek slipped on his mask front, no longer bothering with the rest of it. He faced his patient, "I won't question how you found me, it's a miracle I'm alive anyway. I know where your fox buddy is, but I don't think he'll be very happy to see me so I want you to get to him first. While you talk to him, I'll be having a word with a comrade."

Judy shook her head, concerned for Derek, "No, you're clearly not fit for this."

"You do not dictate that, I do. Only way to kill me is to take off my head, you know. Now, I'm calling in a tip and taking my pet, you stay here and don't die. Walesa will show first, but only let her see an empty table." Derek tossed her the screen blanket from earlier to Judy.

"Wha-" The rabbit went into a coughing fit. "Please don't let her come back."

"She really broke you, didn't she? Fine, no call. Only note." Derek whipped out a pen and grabbed a loose paper, jammed the ink to the page, then tossed it onto the ground. "It will be taken care of as it needs to be taken care of, you will come with me."

And as simply as that, they changed locations. Derek would remain in hiding, but he now had someone else he had to keep hidden. As much as he hated the situation he knew he had to deal, but he didn't want to. Now, in an old nuclear shelter, Derek kept his eye on a recovering rabbit while he waited for the next attack.


End file.
